Find the 20% of effort that delivers 80% of results. Follow the law of the vital few, a.k.a. the Pareto Principle. Identify that smaller group of people who give you the most of your income and focus your energies on how you can keep getting the best of them. What data do you have about them that can drive or support your marketing and fundraising campaigns.

Never talk about the Average Donor. There is no such person, people are unique. Use your database wisely – you have information about them as individuals! Then treat them as individuals, with messages and information that’s directly relevant to them. If you don’t have that kind of data – then reverse a step and go get it! Be purposeful.

De-select your worst supporters. Simple, don’t waste time and money investing in people who simply signed up to your email to get the free book you gave them at that exhibition. They’ve probably taken as much interest in it as they do you. Move on and talk to the interested people.

Contact your best supporters more often. They’re interested, already in the mind set to support you; you just need to catch them in the right moment. Its all about timing. Plus (if you do it right) they’ll feel more loved by you because you’re wanting to spend more time with them.

Spend more on new supporters and new prospects. Everyone loves the ‘new thing’ – so keep them keen, plan to communicate with new supporters while they’re in that fuzzy feeling of the ‘honeymoon’ period with you. They’re in the zone, so make the most of it.

Ask your best enquirers and lapsers to come back. The lapse may only be temporary, if they enquired or donated regularly- they were clearly VERY interested in what you do but something stopped them. Find out what that is and remind them that you’re here when they’re ready.

Ask when your donor is ready to give. They will only ever give in their time, not yours. It’s all about when. So, work out when they buy and look for hot data that will trigger activity and keep giving them the opportunity to be in the when.

Keep and use your contact history with individuals. Details are the building blocks of relationships. Good experiences, bad experiences, key information, support history (did they give time before giving money?) – it all adds to your knowledge of what makes them give. Most of all though, is how much and when. Learn from it. And if you haven’t got systems in place to learn this – build them!

Test, test, test again and keep on testing. How do you know that people responded to your mailing because of your mailing? Would they have given (that much, at that time, for that reason etc.) anyway? What was the real impact (return) from your investment? Know what you’re looking for and seek the truth from your data – not just what you want to see.

Ruthlessly keep demanding “why did they do that?” Test, test, test…you get the idea. Plan to get data as part of your response; help prove (or disprove) your good (!) ideas. “poor (or, even worse, no) testing = wrong insight = waste and loss … good analysis is driven by good questions, not data or statistics.”